Interview with Dr. Stephen Kress
Atlantic puffin populations on several islands in the Gulf of Maine were decimated in the mid 1800s by hunters seeking meat, eggs, and feathers. In 1973, Dr. Stephen Kress began to restore these colonies by transplanting chicks to their former breeding grounds and emboldening them to return as adults and explore the island’s breeding habitat. The success of this program, Project Puffin, on an island called Eastern Egg Rock has led to the restoration of other coastal bird species and provided important data on the life stages of the Atlantic puffin. In this interview, Dr. Kress explains how the breeding phenology of puffins is connected to the productivity of the Gulf of Maine and the health of the marine ecosystem. Read more.